Agreements signed in Washington establish Qatar UCC as lead coordinator of an investor consortium with Chevron and TI Capital
The governments of the Republic of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic signed a government-to-government Memorandum of Understanding and each signed a separate Heads of Agreement with Qatari UCC Urbacon Concessions Investments W.L.L., Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd., and TIC Infra II LLC (TI Capital), to advance a strategic cross-border crude oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria.
This project is one of the biggest transformational infrastructure projects in the Middle East, establishing a new energy exit corridor into the Mediterranean.
The signing ceremony took place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., in the presence of H.E. Ali al-Zaidi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Participants in the signing included Mehmet Arif Ozozan, Chief Executive Officer of UCC Concessions; Eng. Youssef Qiblawi, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Syrian Petroleum Company; Joe Koch, Director – Upstream, Corporate Business Development, Chevron; and Ziad Ghandour, Sole Managing Member of TI Capital, together with representatives of the Iraqi and Syrian governments.
The agreements establish a coordinated framework to assess, develop, finance, and implement an onshore pipeline corridor linking Iraqi crude oil production with export and delivery infrastructure on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
The framework brings together the Qatari-based UCC Concessions’ capabilities in concession development across complex cross-border infrastructure and project execution, Chevron’s long history of delivering complex global infrastructure, and TI Capital’s long history of investments in the Middle East. It also provides for structured cooperation with the relevant ministries, state companies, regulators, and technical authorities in Iraq and Syria.
This transformational project is expected to support greater resilience in regional energy flows by adding an alternative route to existing Gulf export channels. The proposed development builds on the historic Iraq-Syria oil connection while introducing a modern framework designed around international technical, environmental, health & safety, security, and financing standards.
A bilateral government working group is expected to coordinate cross-border matters and prepare a definitive intergovernmental framework. The investor consortium will work in parallel on project feasibility, bankability, and a preliminary financing plan.
The final scope, route, investment structure, timetable, and commercial terms remain subject to technical studies, commercial negotiations, government approvals, and the execution of definitive agreements.
